SWIFT’s new gateway could bless trade ecosystems

SWIFT reported in their portal, the launch of a proof-of-concept (PoC) gateway that could connect e-commerce and trade platforms.

To support the growing demand amongst trade ecosystems for secure and reliable settlement, SWIFT has launched a proof of concept (PoC) to trial a new gateway to interlink trade and #ecommerce platforms with #SWIFTgpi

Christened ‘global payments innovation’ or gpi/gpi Link for short, this could well be the new standard in cross-border payments. GPI Link would be able to easily connect multiple trade platforms to its members, enable payment initiation, facilitate end-to-end payment tracking, credit confirmation, and payer authentication.

The gateway’s other key productivity gain would be allowing continuous monitoring which would aid seamless payments tracking and eventual movement of goods. To ensure that this outreach is truly global cum interoperable, it will support an application programming interface (API).

The report continued that in the initial stages, the PoC would leverage R3’s blockchain platform, Corda. This would be a step ahead to make full use of gpi payments which promises versatility and integrity of operations to distributed ledger technology (DLT) based trades.

GPI Link hopes to address the burning need for fast and transparent settlement using fiat currencies in the trading domain. In order to achieve this, gpi’s ‘off-ledger’ payment settlement would be efficiently utilized.

Promising a threefold gain to corporates using the R3 platform, the PoC would enable authorizing payments from their banks, settle payments through their bank and receive credit confirmations on the respective trading platforms. While the initial focus would be DLT platforms, it would scale to non-DLT and e-commerce offerings in the future.

“While DLT-enabled trade is taking off, there is still little appetite for settlement in crypto-currencies and a pressing need for fast and safe settlement in fiat currencies.”

Luc wanted to emphasize the need for innovative systems in trading platforms. He praised the ‘tight linkage’ which mechanisms like gpi are providing.

David E. Rutter, CEO of R3 captured an important aspect that with the recent launch of Corda Settler which allows payments on its platform, it would also be a good fit for SWIFT gpi. He also noted that applications using Corda blockchain would be benefited from the excellent features offered by gpi Link.

The most evident benefits of using gpi Link can be appreciated from the numbers. An estimated 300 billion U.S. dollars in daily cross-border payments are now swiftly made within minutes or seconds. Over 50% of SWIFT gpi payments are credited to end customers within half an hour.

In the field of high technology, we are witnessing a steady buildup of healthy adoptions. Only time will concretize the offerings and make them universal.